The Charlotte Hornets made one of the biggest moves last offseason when they acquired Gordon Hayward via a sign-and-trade. In order to do this, they waived and stretched the final year of Nicolas Batum’s contract worth $27 million. The means that Hayward will effectively cost the franchise $147 million over four years, rather than $120 million.
They did make the right call on draft night when LaMelo Ball fell to the third pick in the NBA draft. Being the third player in what was effectively a three-player draft, it was not a hard call to make but teams have the ability to move to the beat of their own drum.
To be fair Ball was a risk. He chose to go to Australia to compete in the NBL and while he was incredible, his season ended through injury. However, this proved to be the perfect preparation for Ball as when he came into the league he was ready. He was even the youngest player in league history to record a triple-double.
The Charlotte Hornets had a late-season fadeout due to injuries to their main stars. Here are five offseason roster moves they need to make.
The Hornets were flying towards the latter part of the season. They were sitting in fourth in the Eastern Conference before Ball fractured his wrist towards the end of March. He had been coming off the bench all season, Ball played well enough to be named Rookie of the Year despite missing six weeks with this injury.
This injury was further compounded by the right foot sprain that their team leader, Hayward suffered when Ball was out. With two of their most influential players out, the Hornets slipped down the standings to be a play-in team. They failed to advance to the playoffs, so let’s take a look at five offseason roster moves the Hornets need to make to get to the top.